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For emergency use only, it will work, until you can order a true harp string. Nylon, a patent by DuPont company, is sold for fishing line, tennis racquets, weed-cutter tools and so on, but for all of those the string is not first passed through a diamond die to make it perfectly cyllindrical as harp strings are, to get correct vibrations when we pluck them.
William, I am familiar with the Schlomovitz Beginning Harp Book Nos 1 and 2, each with videos, produced by Salvi Harps, and featuring Renee Schlomovitz Quinn demonstrating the pieces in the books. I’m also familiar with Pamela Bruner’s Books 1 and 2, and DVD of both together, called “Play The Harp Beautifully.” Both of these publications are about the same price, and each is very good for learning the harp. Depending on which literature you wish to learn to play, I think you will find that the Bruner
Julie, if you join the American Harp Society at the national level, there are all sorts of advantages. Just one of them is that you’d receive a yearly updated Directory of all other members in the U.S. and overseas. Each name is designated as Professional, Teacher, Student, and so on, so right away you’d have a valid screen of the kind of teacher you need,
Maria, Nancy Allen, the harp professor at the Juilliard School, and at Yale, and at Aspen, and with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, owns a Horngacher harp. It is probably not her only harp. She has made numerous recordings, and so if you wished to hear the sound of this harp, look in the liner notes on the back
Hello, You need to make up your own mind, and I would suggest you listen on your computer, to some of the compositions and arrangements by Alfredo Orlando Ortiz. He is the most celebrated player in the United States, of the South American style of harp playing, and he uses a Paraguayan harp. Just put his name into your search engine, and you will see his web site; you can choose to click on many of his recordings, to hear parts of them. His address and telephone are also on his web site, and he is well qualified, with his virtuosity, to tell you
Perhaps first look at her hands. This week if I had not done this, with a new student, who is missing the long middle finger of her right hand, I would have erred in encouraging her to study harp. As it was, right away I suggested violin, because that is the hand that holds the bow, and with perseverance she should have much joy from music, even with using only four fingers to hold the bow. Of course the next step is to explain all the parts of your harp, play for her, and teach her middle C as “DO”. By ear, copying you, she could play a short piece of 6 notes or less,
Rachel, try Delaware Valley Music in Philadelphia, because they handle some harp music; therefore some students or teachers who play harp must be customers. Wayne is not far from Philadelphia. 1718 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19103-5120, United States.
Kirsten, use a variety of tools at this age to fill a 45-minute lesson: you walk with them saying step, step, stand and show the symbols of quarters and half-notes to represent these; later run, run to represent eighth notes. Clap a simple rhythm with long and short elements, see if they can match yours. Match a steady metronome beat, or twice as fast, or in-between. Can they hum the same pitch as you hum?
Elena, there is an excellent list of harp camps all over the U.S., with tuition costs, dates, age limits if any, and much more. It was done in Harp Column magazine, volume
Sherry, I think you’re in the Grossi Method, where there are two sets of studies by Pozzoli, and two number 17’s, one on page 123 and one on page 104. It is the one on page 104 I think you are writing about, since the other one, completely in half notes, only uses fingers 1, 2, and 3. Now it is the frequent right hand scale passages with a need to pass from 4321 up to the next 4321 that you must be thinking about. Everyone has a slightly different hand. Look at yours. It’s probably a perfectly normal hand, but when you are “hitting” that finger that is now sore, are you hitting the sore spot with the string, or with another finger on your way up the scale? What does your teacher say about your hand and arm position? Because the ring finger is shorter than the middle finger, musicians who need to get all of our uneven fingertips in a line, need to bring the elbow into just the right position for the fingers to all arrive together on a string.
Josiah, broken strings will happen, so you really need to have spares on hand, but not necessarily the whole set. Order all octaves of
